Paradox Interactive announces that Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter has launched, and Kerberos Productions' space-themed 4X strategy sequel is now "available on all major digital download portals." This release trailer offers a look at the game, and here's a bit from the announcement:

Sword of the Stars II is the sequel to the cult strategy favorite Sword of the Stars and continues the franchise emphasis on meaningful strategic choices, thrilling space combat and galactic conquest in a universe rich with personality and history.

The races from the first game have now established themselves in small empires in the stars, but new challenges and new technologies await, as does an ancient enemy from the past that you can call on to buttress your alliance – if you dare.

Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter has an entirely new graphics engine to make its real time space combat come alive. Navigate your fleet in battle in a 3D environment that lets you target your enemy's weak spots, dealing crippling blows with carefully prototyped standard vessels or massive starships.

The strategic layer adds provincial management to help you keep an eye on the big picture as your empire grows. Your civilization develops with you, and the choices you make will determine what kind of government your citizens live under. The tech tree you can research is never exactly the same from game to game, ensuring tons of replayability even on identical maps.

And they took and brought me to a place in which those who were there were like flaming fire, and, when they wished, they appeared as men. And they brought me to the place of darkness, and to a mountain the point of whose summit reached to heaven. And I saw the places of the luminaries and the treasuries of the stars and of the thunder and in the uttermost depths, where were a fiery bow and arrows and their quiver, and a fiery sword and all the lightnings. And they took me to the living waters, and to the fire of the west, which receives every setting of the sun.

And I came to a river of fire in which the fire flows like water and discharges itself into the great sea towards the west. I saw the great rivers and came to the great river and to the great darkness, and went to the place where no flesh walks. I saw the mountains of the darkness of winter and the place whence all the waters of the deep flow. I saw the mouths of all the rivers of the earth and the mouth of the deep.

Frijoles wrote on Oct 28, 2011, 15:23:Tried to find some gameplay videos of this when I first saw it show up on the coming soon on Steam, but just found trailers. Having never played the first one, what's the gameplay like?

Did you try youtube? There are some walkthroughs and gameplay videos on there

Wetworks wrote on Oct 28, 2011, 15:14:Lol, seems they gave Steam the wrong version of the game. People are complaining it's the beta build and full of bugs. Kerberos is uploading the release version now. First Dead Island now SOTS 2.

Wonderful. Because, you know, why bother to actually make sure you release the proper fucking version?